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18 UCLA L. Rev. 371 (1970-1971)
A New Niche for the Fault Principle: A Forthcoming Newsworthiness Privilege in Libel Cases

handle is hein.journals/uclalr18 and id is 385 raw text is: COMMENT A NEW NICHE FOR THE FAULT PRINCIPLE: A FORTHCOMING NEWSWORTHINESS PRIVILEGE IN LIBEL CASES? William Cohen* Since the New York Times v. Sullivan1 decision in 1964, there has been fair warning that the reach of the mass media's first amend- ment privilege to make factual mistakes did not end with defamatory reports of the public acts of public officials. The New York Times privilege has since been extended to defamatory false statements concerning the public conduct of public figures' and to non- defamatory false statements about persons who are not public figures but who are involuntarily in the public eye.8 In addition, the absolute privilege to print the truth about newsworthy events has been given constitutional standing.4 A trio of cases5 now pending before the United States Supreme Court raise the question whether the newsworthiness privilege, long recognized in privacy cases, will be extended, under the compulsion of the first amendment, to de- famation of private individuals as well. A fourth case' raises the related question whether a meaningful distinction can be drawn between a publisher's reckless disregard of truth and negligence. It is the purpose of this Comment to suggest that the shape of the law already developed under the New York Times rule makes further expansion of the privilege inevitable, and that, once the privilege is expanded, it should be defeasible in all cases only upon * B.A. 1953, LL.B. 1956, Unversity of California, Los Angeles. Professor of Law, Stanford University. 1 376 U.S. 254 (1964). 2 Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967). 8 Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967). 4 Id. at 383-84. 5 Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc., 415 F.2d 892 (3d Cir. 1969), cert. granted, 397 U.S. 904 (1970) (No. 947, 1969 Term; renumbered No. 66, 1970 Term); Roy v. Monitor PatrioL Co., 109 N.H. 441, 254 A.2d 832 (1969), cert. granted, 397 U.S. 904 (1970) (No. 891, 1969 Term; renumbered No. 62, 1970 Term); Ocala Star-Banner Co. v. Damron, 221 So. 2d 459 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1969), cert. granted, 397 U.S. 1073 (1970) (No. 1373, 1969 Term; renumbered No. 118, 1970 Term). 6 Pape v. Time, Inc. 419 F.2d 980 (7th Cir. 1969), cert. granted, 397 U.S. 1062 (1970) (No. 1309, 1969 Term; renumbered No. 109, 1970 Term). 371

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